News on Adulterated Milk

Now Mother Dairy milk also fails quality testTNN

BAREILLY: After the multinational fast food brand Maggi failed a quality test in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh, another top food brand, Mother Dairy, faces a similar embarrassment in Bareilly.

A sample of a packet of milk, taken from a city outlet during Holi by department of Food and Drug Safety Act (FDSA) has failed lab tests on several counts.

Besides the quantity of fat and natural saturated fat (NSF) being found to be much below the quantity claimed by the company, it was also discovered that the milk was diluted with water. Notice has been sent to Mother Dairy seeking a reply within 15 days, failing which a case would be filed in court against the milk manufacturer and distributor, say officials.

"We received a complaint during Holi that the quality of full cream milk supplied by Mother Dairy was not up to the mark. The fat content in full cream milk packets were quite less in comparison to what the company was claiming," said district food safety officer, Sunil Singh, talking to TOI.

"We immediately collected samples of a 500 ml full cream milk packet from a dairy store in Nakatiya locality and sent it for testing at the State Food Laboratory, Lucknow."

The test report sent by the laboratory on Thursday revealed that the fat content in the milk sample was 14% less than the claimed quantity. Besides, the amount of natural saturated fat was also quite less compared to the state amount, according to officials.

"This is very shocking, considering the reputation enjoyed by the milk supplier across the country," said Singh, adding that notice has been issued to Mother Dairy and the distributor from whose shop the sample was collected.

Officials will also be filing a case under section 51 of Food Standard Safety Act, 2006, in the court of ADM (city). If the company fails to provide a clear answer on the issue, it might be forced to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh for violating the provisions of the Act, officials added.

The food safety officer also said that a sample collection drive is being conducted regarding other brands. "We collected five samples of Amul, Mother Dairy, Nova and Parag milk and curd from different outlets in the city," said Singh.